Product Safety

Safe products and services, responsible corporate action in dealing with human capital and resources are important issues. With the provision of their services, in which they focus on neutrality and prevention, the TÜV organisations give consumers confidence: A product that has been independently tested prior to its launch, is always the safest. However, society demands even more. Global production processes must comply with ethical standards. The TÜV organisations are important partners in the issue of corporate social responsibility.

News

In the “goods package” presented on 19.12.2017, the EU Commission is seeking to make adjustments in both areas in order to improve the functioning of the Single Market. With regard to market surveillance and also in the area of mutual recognition, the EU Commission has identified “structural weaknesses”, which it wishes to counteract by means of two Regulations. However, VdTÜV considers that the measures proposed in these Regulations are not suitable in order to adequately meet today’s challenges, eliminate the weaknesses and ensure the most com-prehensive compliance possible for the traded products. Therefore, VdTÜV sees a considerable need for correction as regards the legislation proposals, and wishes to comment as follows.

As part of the 2017 cybersecurity strategy, the European Commission (EC) published a regulation proposal for the “EU Cybersecurity Agency” and the “Cybersecurity Act” in September 2017. VdTÜV welcomes the objective the EC is pursuing with this legislative initiative: Strengthening trust in the security of products and ensuring a higher level of cybersecurity through a consistent framework for the certification of IoT products.

Why “legal harmonisation” and “mutual recognition” cannot be the best solutions for the removal of trade barriers between the EU and other states in the short or medium term. VdTÜV proposes a different, more pragmatic approach: Bilateral or Multilateral Conformity Assessments - they would ease trading significantly within the framework of trade agreements.